About Material Activation

The material activation feature activates the material through one of the following approaches. The approach varies depending on whether you are in an eigenstrain workflow or a thermal pattern workflow.

• The trajectory-based simulation method pairs eigenstrain values stored in the Eigenstrain Library with laser rules set up in the DELMIA Powder Bed Fabrication app. An event series describes the active laser rules at a given time and location, and the solver applies the eigenstrains to the printed part that were matched with this rule. The trajectory-based method s the default when the application detects DELMIA laser path information in an eigenstrain workflow. This approach is only available in the eigenstrain workflow.
• The pattern-based simulation method requires you to define in-plane regions in the Eigenstrain Library where a specific eigenstrain is selected. Then you apply these regions over a three-dimensional bounding box on the actual printed part. You can also define the rotation angle between layers. This approach is only available in the eigenstrain workflow.
• The thermal pattern-based simulation is similar to the pattern-based simulation, except you apply thermal parameters such as laser power and speed over the in-plane regions. This approach is available only for the thermal pattern workflow.

For each approach, you can apply an eigenstrain time constant for an eigenstrain workflow, or an expansion constant for a thermal pattern workflow. The constant is the time over which the thermal strain or eigenstrain is ramped up when the element is activated.

For the trajectory simulation method, you can also specify a bead height and width, stack direction, and the position of the path relative to the bead of material being applied.

For the pattern and thermal pattern simulation methods, you can specify the layer thickness and axis system. In addition, you can specify a subset of total or step time over which the elements are activated instead of using the total or step time of the solve. You can also specify whether the elements in a layer are activated sequentially (sweep) or all at once (layer by layer).

For the eigenstrain pattern approach, you can control whether to adjust the time incrementation such that all elements of a single layer are activated in one time increment.

For the thermal pattern approach, you can specify how many increments are required for a single layer of elements to be activated.

You can control what fraction of material activates the element, and whether the elements are partially or fully activated when enough material is added.